Thoughts on the ‘Law of the Land’ and the Persistence of Aboriginal Law in Australia

Abstract

Warlpiri people have lived in their homelands for countless generations. Western Europeans began to intrude into these places only a century ago. Since that first contact, kardiya have shot, poisoned, forcibly relocated, and enslaved yapa. They have imposed foreign ideas upon yapa, and despised yapa ways of being—ceremonies, language, relationships, connection to country, cosmology, and law (Reynolds 1987, 1989). Some Warlpiri call this ngurra-kurlu (Pawu-Kurlpurlurnu et al. 2008). It is the Warlpiri way of being, and order of things.

This chapter arises from collaboration undertaken in the course of doctoral field research (2010 to date) by Spiers Williams with Patrick and other law men and women of Lajamanu that was made possible by funding from Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies and the ANU College of Law, Australian National University. This chapter develops ideas that Spiers Williams presented in an early form (Williams 2012). The co-authors thank Prof. David Nash of ANU for his helpful comments; any errors are that of the authors.

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